Product Overview of Searx
What is Searx?
Searx is a free and open-source metasearch engine designed with a strong emphasis on user privacy and customization. Developed by Adam Tauber (alias asciimoo), Searx aims to protect the privacy of its users by aggregating search results from multiple search engines without logging or profiling user activities.
Key Features
Privacy Protection
- Searx does not store any information about its users, including IP addresses or search history. It blocks tracking cookies from search engines, preventing user-profiling-based results modification.
- Search queries are submitted via HTTP POST by default, which prevents query keywords from appearing in web server logs. However, there is an exception for Chrome users, where GET requests are used when using the browser’s omnibar.
Customization and Flexibility
- Users can choose which search engines to use for their queries, select the search language, and customize other settings such as the layout of the results display. These settings are saved in a cookie in the user’s web browser, not on the server side.
- Searx supports over 80 different search engines, including major commercial engines like Bing, Google, Qwant, DuckDuckGo, and site-specific searches like Wikipedia and Reddit.
Search Categories and Results
- Searx offers search categories for general searches, files, images, maps, music, videos, and more. Users can specify search categories and languages using textual search operators.
- Search results are presented in a unified interface, and direct links to the respective sites are provided instead of tracked redirect links. Additionally, cached and proxied links are available, allowing users to view results pages without directly visiting the sites.
Self-Hosting and Community
- Users have the option to run their own private instances of Searx on their computers or servers, which maximizes privacy and allows for customization and auditing of the source code. Public instances are also available, some of which are accessible via Tor.
- Searx is part of a larger open-source community, with its source code available on GitHub under the GNU Affero General Public License version 3. This allows users to contribute to the project and enhance its functionality.
Additional Tools and Integrations
- Searx integrates with tools like Morty, an image proxy service, and Filtron, a privacy-respecting firewall that protects the search service from malicious user requests. It also supports search results in CSV, JSON, and RSS formats, enabling automation of certain tasks.
Functionality
- Aggregation of Search Results: Searx combines search results from multiple engines, providing a comprehensive and diverse set of results.
- Advertisement Filtering: Searx filters out advertisements from search results, increasing the relevance and reducing distractions.
- User Control: Users can modify search engines, categories, and languages on a per-query basis using textual search operators.
- Public API and Browser Integration: Searx offers a public API and can be added as a search engine to browser search bars, including Firefox. It can also be set as the default search engine.
In summary, Searx is a powerful, privacy-respecting metasearch engine that offers extensive customization options, robust privacy protection, and the flexibility to run self-hosted instances, making it an attractive alternative for users concerned about their online privacy and seeking more control over their search experiences.